Zero Point
by SirDragneel
Summary: [Sequel to Project Zero] 2 Years since the events of Project Zero, and humanity is thriving on Earth once more. But when Etherious surfaces once more, causing more acts of crime, Natsu sets it upon himself to cut it off at it's source, along with his wife, Lucy. But why does she have such a bad feeling about all of this? [Rated T for cursing]
1. Wash, Rinse, Repeat

**Hey guys! A lot of love and care went into the planning of this sequel to Project Zero, so please fav, follow, and review!**

 **Art by my waifu; Bloobychuu on tumblr (don't know her FF name T-T)**

 **Beta reader/Story plot confidant; xxIAmTheSkyxx (or nothingbutwordsstuff on tumblr)**

 **and be sure to follow me on tumblr at sirdragneel to ask me questions ask for drabble requests!**

* * *

Once, a long long time ago, a very loved man named Natsu Dragneel tragically died of heart failure. His elder brother, Zeref, worked tirelessly for decades to find out how to resurrect his lost loved one.

A hundred and fifty years into this process, Zeref tampered with forces that should never have been tampered with. He was successfully able to set up a process that would bring his brother back in fifty years' time. At the same time, however, he cursed his own brother with the fate of humanity while in turn entwining his fate with an alien substance known as Etherious—the very thing out to end the humans' lives.

Natsu managed to wipe out the main source and destroy all of the Etherious, except for inside himself, while returning his race to Earth, where it belonged.

Or so he thought.

This is the story of Natsu Dragneel, the luckiest unlucky man alive, and his quest to not die...again.

* * *

"Your life of treachery ends today, vile being!" Lucy yelled dramatically, using her light-gun to latch onto the man's leg and fling him behind her expertly, striking a pose as he hit the ground with a loud _thump_.

This had been the third act of crime this week, this time, the guy had been stealing from their mayor, Hisui E. Fiore, but he hadn't gotten far before Magnolia's resident chief-of-police, Lucy Dragneel, had managed to catch up to him.

Yes, she went by Lucy Dragneel now. It had been two years since she had found Natsu in the forest lake, and after about a year and a half of dating, the two got engaged and eventually married. It had also been a shock to them that there were other colonies of humans that had been surviving on Earth—quite a few, in truth—and the only downside to that was that a lot of them happened to be thieves.

The ex-space colony of Fairy Tail had wanted to appoint Natsu over their city's guard at first, but they'd also wanted him to lead the building of the city as well as keep up with maintenance—and Lucy, hating to see him so loaded down with work, volunteered to do it.

And while defeating bad guys was fun and all, it had been much more fun with Natsu by her side (so that he could see how cool she looked). The most time Lucy had gotten to spend with her own husband had been their honeymoon, and they'd spent it mostly cooped up at home watching all the _Star Wars_ movies. Other than that, practically everyone needed him for something.

Well, that was what she got for falling in love with a superhuman.

Sighing, the blonde handcuffed the criminal and began dragging him off when a whistle of appreciation suddenly sounded behind her, and she whipped around to see Natsu Dragneel himself standing there, holding a clipboard and smiling brightly at her—the smile he reserved for her and her alone that made her heart melt.

His outfit had changed since their escapades in space, as he preferred a more old-fashioned look. He wore a simple white button-up shirt with the first few buttons undone that revealed the scar on his neck, with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows and a strap on his left arm. He had a black vest on over it, the tails reaching about mid-thigh. His pants were thick and black, which were halfway covered by his knee-high leather boots. The last piece of his outfit was a scaly white scarf, which was tied around his waist like a sash.

They had found it in his old home, and it was apparently a gift from his father. Since finding it, Natsu hadn't been without it.

The bright blue _0_ still adorned his left cheek, but it was also accompanied by a thick scar on his right cheek. He'd gotten both of these scars while fighting the Etherious.

Lucy let out an audible gasp upon seeing him and had to refrain herself from tackling him in a hug on the spot. She settled instead for grinning madly as he walked up to her, admiring his windblown hair and how well his new shirt fit him. He was certainly handsome before, but his new outfit accented his figure much more nicely.

"Another one of these rats, huh?" he asked, nudging the guy with his foot. "In any case, you make quick work of them," he noted, turning back to Lucy with a smile.

Lucy felt herself blush at the compliment. She twirled a strand of her long hair, which was pulled into a ponytail. "Heh, well of course!" she answered. "But you could do it much faster than I could, I'm sure."

Natsu shrugged, turning to look at the rest of the city and sighed. "Well, I'm also apparently the fastest at building super crazy high-tech apartments because everyone here is a lazy ass who can't make their own toast," he grumbled. It was obvious he didn't appreciate everyone simply taking advantage of his ability to make super toasters. He wasn't opposed to advancing technology, but he felt it should be used sensibly.

…And according to Natsu, super toasters were not sensible.

Lucy couldn't help but smile at the memory—of the first display of his powers when he repaired a broken toaster for Gray. "But people need their _strudel of toasters!_ " she said playfully, quoting Natsu from two years ago.

Her husband scowled at the mention of his blunder from back then. "Excuse me, but last I checked, I had pretty bad amnesia when I said that."

The two suddenly froze at a loud noise coming from the edge of town. Lucy immediately began to move towards the source after casting a brief glance at Natsu, instructing him to take care of the captured man for her and ignoring his cries of protest as she took off down the dirt road.

When Lucy arrived, she was greeted with Gray trying to hold down some portly man who seemed to be…glowing.

That was definitely the strangest thing she had ever seen…or perhaps not, since she was married to a man who had died over two hundred years ago, had glowing eyes and face tattoo, and could control anything mechanical or metal at will. That was definitely weird.

Gray was thrown off the glowing man and sent sailing through the building across the street as all the lights in the town started flickering.

"Give it up!" the small pudgy man cackled. "You pathetic humans can't defeat I, the great Duke Everlue!" He began laughing maniacally as if he had just murdered someone.

Lucy had to stop herself from gouging her eyes out from just looking at him, as much as she wanted to…there was work to be done. "Stop right there!" she said firmly, jabbing a warning finger and placing a hand on her hip. "I'm with the MPD, and any resistance from you means that I will have to resort to violence!"

The self-proclaimed "Duke" looked at her carelessly, as if she was nothing more than a fly buzzing around his head. "No ugly human girl can stand in my way," he said simply. With those words, he started glowing again, and the entire stretch of apartment buildings they were standing under creaked precariously before it started to tip over.

The air around Lucy seemed to tingle as she realized what was happening, and her eyes widened as the shadow of the toppling building over them grew. "That's—!"

"A lame trick?" a voice from behind her said as the building suddenly froze in place—clear evidence of two forces of gravity clashing. "I was about to say the same thing."

Lucy watched in awe as Natsu sauntered up to the scene, like he was going on a Sunday stroll. His eyes were glowing brightly like they always did when he either got worked up or worked with machines, but she could see them flicker slightly, likely because he was using more power than usual to keep this giant building from crushing everyone beneath it.

"Natsu…are you okay?" Lucy asked warily, and Natsu gave a weak smile, as he glanced back at her.

"Just a bit of a headache," he said simply as he returned to staring down at the smaller and unsightly man. "Never handled anything of this scale before; that's all."

The other man gave Natsu a scrutinizing look as if trying to figure out what species he was.

"Well…I didn't know they had one in this town," the man said. "You may have a little bit of Etherious in your veins, _but_ ," he added boisterously, "I have been growing immune to it for over ten years!" All the lights started flickering and blowing out as power surged through them.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock. "Etherious?" he repeated incredulously. "You…are you trying to tell me that I almost died in blasted space—" He growled in anger as he stormed towards the sorry excuse of a duke. "—For _nothing?!_ " he shouted, and a light pole suddenly flew from across the street and whizzed right between the two.

Lucy saw the color drain from the man's face as he seemed to realize the difference in power. The air started to heat up and the wind picked up as Natsu's anger grew, prompting dark clouds to brew overhead. Lucy was almost afraid he would kill the man, but he simply beat him over the head hard enough to make him pass out…and the wind didn't subside, signifying that Natsu was still really mad.

"I'll take care of this blasted building; you just get this sickening human to Levy," he growled at Lucy. "I'm not standing for any lingering remnants of that mess." Lucy nodded a bit as she went to handcuff the man and drag him away.

"It's okay, Natsu; I'll help you figure this out. You aren't alone, all right? And I won't let your efforts go to waste," Lucy added softly, kissing his cheek as she passed.

She could feel Natsu's anger…but more than that, she could sense his fear. He never let on about what worried him around others, but whenever they were alone, he would confide in her. She knew he felt a heavy responsibility for these people, not to mention that he felt indebted to his late brother for giving him a second chance. He had been tasked with eliminating the Etherious, and having it still floating around even after all his efforts was a fairly bad sign.

The most Lucy could do for him now was to just be there—to help in whatever way she could.

* * *

"No doubt about it; that's a decent amount of Etherious in his bloodstream," Levy informed, taking her glasses off as she turned to Lucy. "What exactly happened out there?"

Lucy sighed and sat down on an empty stool. "I can't say for sure…but if this stuff is being passed around like cocaine in back alleys, then it would explain the huge amounts of crime we've had recently," she muttered sadly. "Whatever is happening, I know Natsu is upset about it…he nearly got himself killed two years ago trying to stop that stuff—not just for us, but for his brother, too…all that hard work, and it's gone to waste…"

Levy looked at Lucy somberly and took hold of her hand. "And you're gonna do anything to help him, huh?" she asked softly.

Lucy looked up with sad eyes. "Well, after everything that's happened…I'm the one person he truly counts on!" the blonde said, her words tinged with desperation.

The shorter woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You shouldn't even be doing the work you're doing _now_ …" She raised her gaze to Lucy pointedly. "Did you even tell Natsu about your… _condition_ yet?"

Lucy chewed her bottom lip, holding herself nervously "N-no…and I haven't had much chance to, anyway. He's always so busy—and when he's not, he's worn out, and…" She trailed off.

Levy placed her hands on her hips. "If he knew, you _know_ he wouldn't want you doing anything dangerous, either!" she scolded her sternly.

"I know!" Lucy cried, throwing her hands up in surrender. "But I promise; I'll tell him soon!" she tacked on quickly, raising her hands as if Levy would hit her for this fact.

…Which was probably truer than Lucy would ever care to admit.

Levy sighed heavily and opened her mouth to speak again, but immediately shut it as the door opened and Natsu entered the room. Lucy could still see the sweat trailing down his neck from fixing the building (and probably running the whole way here afterward). His expression was grave, his eyes shadowed by his bangs.

Most would've thought the expression intimidating, but it was hard for Lucy to look at him and be frightened after he'd cried on her shoulder (or lap) so many times before. Truthfully, her heart reached out to him when she saw him like this, knowing he was probably just worried more than anything.

"Here, Natsu," Levy said gently, bringing up the test results for him. Natsu walked over to get a better look, his arms folded and his frown deepening.

"Shit…I knew I could feel it, but I was hoping I was wrong," he muttered. Despite his calm disposition, Lucy could see his turmoil—as evidenced by the now-glitching screen. But she drew her brows together as she saw his breath hitch and the hand clasped on his bicep clench tightly, and Lucy was starkly reminded of when his heart would go out of control from trauma.

Lucy stood, looking at him worriedly. "Natsu? Are you—?" she began, but Natsu flinched away from her as she spoke.

"Fine," he grunted. "I'm just…really mad." His words didn't sound too convincing to Lucy, however, as his eyes darted away from her like they always did when he was hiding something indicated. "Right now, we need to focus on the problem at hand." His commanding tone effectively signaled the change in subject. "I doubt this pig had the brains enough to figure out how to effectively use the Etherious, meaning that someone else _does_ and is handing it out like fucking candy."

Lucy nodded firmly in affirmation. "And he'd said that he'd been growing immune to it for ten years," she began, standing by her husband. "Which mean that there are more humans out there who didn't leave Earth—"

"—So they don't know the consequences of tampering with this crap," Natsu finished with a growl before turning from the screen to look at Levy, who stiffened on the spot. "Levy, can you search him for any clues of where he might've gotten it? I need to talk to Hisui about the situation, so we can maybe lead a team out to shut this down before it gets out of hand." He then turned on his heel to leave without waiting for a response to his order, Lucy following closely after him.

"Natsu…what was that back there?" she asked softly, putting a hand on his shoulder and making him pause.

His lips pressed into a thin line as if he was pondering whether he should say anything or not. It was a few minutes before he settled with the reply, "It's nothing" and resumed walking.

The shorter blonde stood in his path and obstructed his escape, forcing him to halt once again. "Natsu, what have I told you about hiding things?" she asked. "Do you realize how much you worry me?" Her words grew quieter with each word, and she bit her lip as she felt tears threaten to surface. "We—I can't afford to lose you…not now…"

Natsu stared at her with wide eyes as if searching her face for some kind of answer he probably wouldn't get—not now, anyway—so instead, he opted for pulling her flush against him and kissing her lips chastely, leaving Lucy light-headed as he pulled back, giving her his usual smile.

"I promise you, Luce; I'm not going anywhere for a long time," he said reassuringly.

Lucy wanted to believe him…but why did she have such a bad feeling in her gut about this whole thing?

Natsu detached from her and strode away, and Lucy lingered, staring after his retreating back.

 _Please…keep him safe…_


	2. Jellybean Heist

In Natsu's mind, the plan was a whole lot better than it actually was. And to be fair, he didn't hear many complaints from his partners, Gray Fullbuster and Lucy Heartfilia.

Okay, well, that was a lie—Gray was complaining about everything, and it got to the point where he was complaining so much that he and Lucy just tuned him out, as it was mostly Natsu that Gray was complaining about...which was rather unhelpful.

It wasn't a secret that Gray hadn't been very fond of Natsu ever since they had found him, but he continued to make that obvious the entire time—even now, as they sat on the forest floor together, tied up and useless.

"I fully blame you for this," Gray hissed to the man next to him, who merely glowered more at the campfire in response.

"I one hundred percent thought that they were enemies, okay?" Natsu answered with a huff, his nostrils flaring. "And _why_ does Lucy get to roam free, but we don't?!"

Said blonde smiled apologetically from the campsite, while the fiery redhead who had been immersed in conversation with her turned and glared harshly enough to make the two men freeze up.

"Because I do not trust you two hooligans," the woman, who went by the name Erza, snapped, before turning back to Lucy, leaving Natsu and Gray to once more sit in silence.

As it turned out, the group they had attacked was a small hunting tribe led by Erza, who also seemed to be combating the Etherious—and another person.

"His name is Jellal Fernandes." Erza continued. "We had been close for many years, but one day he just...changed. Next I knew he was rambling about...power, and the Etherious, and how we could use it to save everyone on earth…" She paused. "I told him he was crazy, and then he attacked me." She stopped briefly, gesturing to her eyepatch. "And next I knew, he had taken a group of our tribe and left, claiming to be doing the _work of God_ like some kind of apostle."

The whole forest clearing fell silent, only the crackling of the fire to be heard as the trio took in what was said. The way Natsu saw it, their best bet would be to find Jellal. They didn't have many leads to go off of, so this seemed like a decent place to start at least.

"Uh, don't you have like super strength or something? Can't you just bust us out?" Gray suddenly asked.

Natsu gritting his teeth as he interrupted his train of thought. "It's not _super strength_ , and I try to avoid using the Etherious as much as—" He was cut off at the sudden sword at his throat. "—possible..."

Erza moved faster than he had honestly expected, and despite him having battled various near-immortal monsters, the glare this woman was shooting at him was giving off an even worse demonic aura than anything else he had faced, and he found himself shivering.

"Did you say _Etherious?_ Are you with them?" she asked darkly, her eyes telling him that any slip-up and she would decapitate him then and there, and Natsu felt his throat close up, unable to actually answer.

"Erza, please!" Lucy cried, rushing over. "Don't hurt him!"

The red-haired woman gave her a wary glance before slowly lowering her sword. "I will concede to these demands if you tell me why he has Etherious in him," she said finally, stabbing her blade into the ground and making the two bound men wince.

"Fine..." Natsu started with a sigh, which was partially out of relief. "Unbind me, and I will tell you about myself."

((Line Cut))

As expected, it took a good hour or so to fully explain all that had happened to Natsu, and he was sure Lucy would start crying, but she instead held a firm grip on his hand—as if assuring him she would always be there, which he knew she would be.

Erza nodded, deep in thought about the situation. Natsu could certainly feel for this woman, as Etherious had done nothing but wreck havoc on her life, much like it had on his own, which made him feel nothing but sadness for her.

So much had happened—and it was essentially his own fault, which was quite a pill to swallow. He could never voice just how upset the whole thing made him, how much more terrifying everything seemed now since he had spent God knows how long falling through the abyss of space, spending days being surrounded by nothing but darkness.

To this day, he had had one too many nightmares about it—which was why he wanted to rid the world of the Etherious at all costs.

 _"Well, look what I found."_

A new voice rang through the small campsite, and everyone jumped to attention as a blue-haired man, followed by two women, walked into sight. Erza was the first to respond, followed by one of the girls in the tribe—a blue-haired girl named Juvia.

 _"Jellal."_

 _"Meredy..."_

"Oh, no need for such an ugly expression," the man introducing himself as Jellal said, waving the two down. "This whole business would be a lot less messy if you had just joined me. Didn't we agree to make a perfect world together?"

Erza stepped forward, brandishing her weapon at him. "I did not wish for this! I want people to be kind of their own accord! This—this is—!"

"The only way!" Jellal cut her off, arcing his hand forward and causing a burst of bright light to . Not even Natsu could really process what had happened, but all he registered was Erza letting out a cry of pain as she flew backward, the other hunters rushing to her aide.

Natsu took it upon himself to step forward, knowing that if this was the power of Etherious they were standing up against, no one else stood a chance. "Jellal! You must stop this at once!" he pleaded, placing himself in front of everyone else. "The Etherious helps no one!"

Jellal apparently wasn't too impressed, as he didn't even flinch at Natsu's words. "It is you who must stop, boy from the Etherious." he replied blandly. "Mard already told me all about you—a person imbued and reborn with so much power that he could be considered a god to most common folk."

Natsu blanched, feeling like he just licked an iron pole for some reason—something about that description made him feel more like a tool than he would have liked. "And...who is this Mard?"

The man before him laughed as if Natsu just asked him what two plus two was, stretching his arms out as if to accept an oncoming calamity into the world.

"Fools!" he declared. "Mard is the one who will save us all! He came to me, telling me I was the only one who could possibly save this damned planet—the planet that was cursed by _your_ brother, Zeref Dragneel!"

Now Natsu felt _really_ sick to his stomach, and he was sure he had turned stark-white, but he managed not to waver.

"In order to truly rid this world of darkness, we must purify you—Zeref's legacy and sin," Jellal continued, which wasn't helping with Natsu's coherentness as he now started feeling kind of dizzy—and before he knew it, the pain was there again.

It had been happening since he had all but exploded himself and the Etherious out in outer space. Ever since he had returned to Earth, Natsu would suddenly feel random bouts of burning sensations coursing through his body. Whenever he grew worked up, it never failed to be there—like lava coursing through his veins.

And this time was no different. It took everything in Natsu's power not to writhe in pain, lest anyone around him found out. One might have told their loved ones right away about this, but...Natsu couldn't bring himself to tell Lucy.

His entire life had been filled with nothing but sad and pitiful looks...so much that his last living memory of his beloved brother was one of his face painted with the most heart-wrenching expression. He'd sworn from that day on that he would never let people cry over his well-being again.

"If there's anyone who's impure, it's you!"

Natsu was surprised at the new voice entering the conversation, but not quite as surprised as once he realized who that voice belonged to—Gray Fullbuster.

"This guy has gone through hell and back trying to keep the people of this planet happy!" he was snapping. "So you can just go fuck yourself!"

Jellal sneered at Gray's outburst. "Enough!" he snapped, silencing the group. "I'll make this easy..."

Before they could even blink, suddenly the black-haired girl on his right was holding Lucy, who yelled in protest.

When Natsu and Gray rushed forward to retrieve the girl, they gasped as roots suddenly sprouted from the ground at their feet, entangling their legs.

"Good job, Ultear," Jellal praised her before pointing at Natsu, who had by now collapsed on all fours. "If you want the girl back, meet me at the Tower of Heaven," he proclaimed.

Natsu had to close his eyes, working past the pain coursing through his body to try and remember what that was. From what he could remember, the _Tower of Heaven_ was the name of an abandoned project, a tower built to reach God himself. It was said to have been destroyed by God as well, but going by what the reports claimed, the place seemed to be as cursed as Natsu himself.

"Impossible!" Erza protested, struggling to stand to her feet again. "No one has gone near that place for years! You know what that place—!"

"I do," he cut her off. "Be there by sundown tomorrow, or you may never see your blondie again" was all he said before something akin to a dust storm blew by, obscuring the trio as they disappeared into the night.

Natsu had never before felt so hopeless, and he remained in place even after the roots around his calves disappeared. He slammed his fists into the ground with his eyes shut tight, shaking with anger, sadness, and pain.

"Shit..." he mumbled angrily. "Shit, shit...how could I..." He continued to grumble to himself until he gasped at the touch of a hand on his back, and he let his head snap up to see Gray, Erza and Juvia standing behind him.

"We're gonna get Lucy back," Gray said, which was probably the kindest thing the guy had ever said to him.

"I am coming as well." Erza added. "Jellal is my opponent."

"Juvia, too!"

Natsu drew in a few deep breaths before pushing himself up to his feet, nodding as he calmed himself. "Of course," he said firmly, feeling his eyes burn—which meant that they were probably glowing again. "Like I'm gonna let those bastards get away with just taking _my_ wife. Unforgivable."

He then turned in the direction that Jellal had gone and declared, "Team Natsu; let's go get Lucy back!"

((Line cut))

"Why is it Team _Natsu?_ Why not Team Gray, huh?"

"I am quite partial to Team Erza myself."

"Team Gray-sama love!"

"For the love of—because she's _my_ wife, he's after _me_ , and _I'm_ leading this rescue mission! So _shut up!_ "


	3. Smoke and Mirrors

Lucy couldn't place her finger on where she was exactly. All she knew was that this place was the so-called Tower of Heaven, and she was in what appeared to be a cell.

Those people had all but dumped her in this place, and she had been left sitting in the darkness for what felt like forever. Lucy was sitting in the corner, her hand instinctively resting on her stomach as her worried eyes scanned her surroundings.

After about five more minutes, footsteps were heard further down the hall until Jellal himself appeared. The blonde narrowed her eyes at him.

"If I were you, I would let me go before something bad happens," she snapped instantly, rising to her feet.

Jellal looked over her without much concern for her words and continued with what he was planning on saying. "If I were _you_ , I would pray your little bodyguard steers clear of this tower," he said in reply, making Lucy's stomach churn at the implications.

"What are you planning on doing to Natsu?" she asked in a voice no louder than a whisper, as worry took over her body.

Jellal only smirked, exuding confidence and what felt like malice. "Whatever needs to be done for Mard's wishes to be granted. He is currently the largest source of Etherious, meaning we must finish purging it and wiping this substance from existence! By any means!" he declared, to which Lucy only glared in return.

"Natsu is not the problem here! He's the only one who can _stop_ the Etherious!" Lucy countered defensively, not wanting to lose her footing here.

Jellal sneered, turning on his heel. "Whether you like it or not, he will meet his end. I will personally see to it." he said before disappearing down the dark hall again, leaving Lucy alone once more and without any signs of comfort.

* * *

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that..." Erza began as the group of four forged their way through the dense forest. Natsu was eternally thankful they had brought flashlights because he wasn't really feeling up to being plunged in darkness. Again.

Not only that, but his body had seemed to make its own defense mechanism for the dark...that being causing his body to glow in the dark obnoxiously like the world's biggest glowstick. Gray made fun of him for it whenever he could, but Natsu was quite done with it, to be frank.

"So to sum up the tale...you died two hundred years ago, and because of that, Zeref studied science and took a majority of humanity to space, where he managed to resurrect you with an alien substance, but then that substance got mad and started killing everyone...yet, the reason this stuff went insane in the first place—that being you—is also the only thing that can stop it?" Erza said, the look on her face plainly betraying the thought _This is the craziest thing I have ever heard_.

"Pretty much," Natsu said, eyeing the scarlet warrior nervously.

"Juvia thinks this story is incredibly contradictory," Juvia interjected, to which everyone sighed.

"I don't quite understand everything either, but I do know, Natsu has nearly died saving us before. I know he'll try even harder to save you all as well," Gray said seriously, which made Natsu smile a bit.

Juvia apparently didn't seem to understand what had just been said as she clutched Gray's arm. "Uwaah! Gray-sama is so brave!" she cried, making Gray jump back.

"H-hey! Let go!"

Natsu watched in disbelief as the blue-haired girl squeezed Gray's bicep like he had just saved her life before shaking his head, trying to get back on track.

"So we're about fifteen miles from our destination," Natsu said firmly, "so we need a plan before we get there. The tower is old, so I won't be able to tell where Lucy is being held by looking at the wiring and inner-mechanisms." He gave their group a quick once-over before looking ahead again. "So we need to find where Lucy is located in the building, first and foremost. It will make further actions much easier to handle."

"Easier...what are you planning?" Erza asked warily, narrowing her eyes at their rose-haired leader.

"Well, once she is once again safely in our hand...I don't have to hold back on the fuckers that took her from me," Natsu said darkly, his eyes gleaming blue in the darkness. His malice towards Jellal was practically palpable to the others around him.

"Hey...just be careful..." was all Gray could say.

"Stay on guard," Natsu said. "It's not far."

As he said that, he felt relief fill his mind. It was nearly dawn.

* * *

Lucy's butt had been long numb by this point. She had been pacing for quite some time when the cell door opened again, revealing the black-haired woman who went by the name of "Ultear". Calmly she approached Lucy, whose body had stiffened from the tension.

"What do you want now?" Lucy snapped, trying to hold her composure.

Ultear smiled a bit, like she knew a secret that Lucy didn't. "I would speak a little louder if you want your savior to hear you," she said, walking to the one barred window.

Lucy's brows furrowed as she watched Ultear. "Why...would you want him to find me...?" she asked curiously, but was only answered with silence. "Do you...want to kill Natsu?" she continued asking, hoping to lure an answer out of at least _one_ of these weirdos.

"We have no wish to kill him," Ultear said simply. "If we did, he would be useless to us. We just strive for what he is. Now do me a favor...and scream."

* * *

If the blood-curdling screams weren't enough to tip Natsu off, nothing would be. They had just entered the clearing for the tower when piercing screams tore through the air, making him freeze in his tracks.

He knew that voice like the back of his hand, and there were no doubts to that voice belonging to Lucy. Natsu vaguely noticed the hand being placed on his shoulder, squeezing, as its owner was telling him, "Natsu, wait-!"

But his blood began burning hot again with rage, and he tore across the field and straight to their front door, barely registering that his force had ripped the door off its hinges.

"Well, how nice of you to come visit," a calm voice spoke. Jellal sat on a throne-like chair, observing Natsu as if he was watching a theater troupe.

"Cut the crap with me, tattoo face, and tell me where the _fuck_ Lucy is," Natsu snarled back, stepping forward, feeling as if the thin cord that kept him connected to reality would snap at any moment. It was at moments like this where he truly felt inhuman.

"My, with that expression—" Jellal's voice cut off just then—and suddenly, Natsu wasn't moving.

His thoughts raced as his mind was yelling at him to move, but his limbs refused to cooperate. He then slumped forward, and Jellal rose to swiftly catch him, forcing Natsu's gaze to focus on the ground—where an empty syringe had fallen onto the cracked stone.

 _D-did they drug me...?!_ Natsu yelled at himself internally, and he began panicking even more as a he saw a pair of shoes appear in his line of sight, and a new voice speaking.

"Perfect. Mistress Kyouka should be pleased," she (the voice was clearly female) said. "Jellal, Ultear, Meredy...you served your purpose well. We shall return home."

Natsu's racing heart began to slow as the drug began taking his consciousness as well, his mind already shot with fear.

"Macro."

* * *

"Miss Lucy!"

"Yo, Lucy!"

Lucy could hear the calls of Erza and Gray from down the hall in her cell, and she managed to stand up despite the nasty wound left in her leg by Ultear.

"Gray! Erza and Juvia!" Lucy called, leaning heavily against the wall.

The trio looked relieved to see her alive and well, but they paused, looking nervous.

"Miss Lucy, where is Natsu?" Juvia asked, looking around warily.

"Yeah, the bastard ran ahead of us...there was also no sign of those three freaks, either," Gray added suspiciously, and Lucy's eyes widened in horror at the realization. That's what had been so weird...because they hadn't wanted her.

They'd wanted Natsu.

"Oh, no...they have Natsu…!"


	4. The Monster Inside

Natsu would've loved to say he went out in an epic blaze—that he valiantly stormed the tower, freed his wife, and faced off with Jellal like the hero he was supposed to be…or at least hoped to be. At the very least, the hero like everyone else wanted him to be.

Well, take it from him—fact of life; exploding yourself in space for the betterment of humanity does not make you unsusceptible to drugs, so if someone stabs you in the neck with a needle, _**fucking panic.**_

Now lo and behold, here Natsu was—waking up from a drug-induced coma, his butt numb from lying on the cold stone floor, and a raging headache ringing throughout his body that made it feel like someone was sounding a gong inside him. Times were not fun for Natsu Dragneel.

Natsu slowly rose to his feet, blinking his eyes until they no longer felt glazed over. The cell he was being held in was dark—but thankfully, not dark enough to send him into a panic, thanks to the small barred window that led to the outside and a few torches that lined the darkened hallway.

After a few fruitless minutes of using his powers, trying to yank the metal bars from their places embedded deep in the stone, Natsu had given up upon the realization that the metal bars weren't metal at all, but in fact finely crafted stone bars. In layman's terms, his powers were useless here.

He was, rather surprisingly, kind of happy when one of his captors came by his cell. It was a weird animal-hybrid woman, and Natsu vaguely recalled reading something online about people called "furries".

He quickly dismissed the thought and watched the woman carefully.

"You…you're not who we wanted," the woman said matter-of-factly.

"Well, that actually works out in my favor as well because I don't want to _be_ here, so…how about you let me go, and we forget this whole debacle ever happened, eh?" Natsu offered hopefully.

The woman didn't look amused, and instead, opened the cell and cuffed Natsu's wrists immediately before leading him out into the hall of terrors, as Natsu had mentally nicknamed it. "I will take you to Mard," she continued, practically dragging Natsu behind her. "He will decide what to do with you."

"Well…how fun," said dragged man grumbled. He could feel it already…today wasn't going to be his day.

* * *

"GRAY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Lucy screamed in the midst of hitting him upside the head repeatedly, shaking from how upset she currently was. Seriously, once this was all done, she was gonna call for a vacation for her and Natsu so that maybe she could actually lay in bed with her husband for all of ten seconds.

"Lucy, I told you; we couldn't stop him before he rushed in!" Gray countered, grabbing her fists of fury and holding them still. "Arguing won't help save him; we need to think of a plan!" He waited for the anger to fade from her eyes before letting go, where she then nodded solemnly.

The small argument was disrupted as Erza's spear pierced the ground between their feet, likely thrown there to tell them to shut up. Erza crossed her arms, looking aggravated at the miniscule amount of progress made over these past thirty minutes.

"The naked one is right." she said firmly, making Gray realize he was indeed naked. "The best course of action is to investigate the site where Natsu was kidnapped. Then maybe find Jellal…he will probably know where he is being held." The others nodded in agreement,

"Then please, Miss Erza," Lucy said, stepping forward, worry clear in her eyes. "Help me protect Natsu…"

* * *

"We are here," Animal-lady said, shoving Natsu toward a weird throne, where a guy with very fluffy long black hair sat, staring at Natsu like he was an interesting-looking bug.

"You…you're not the woman," the man—Natsu could only assume he was Mard Geer—said, rising from his seat and striding down to inspect Natsu fully, circling him like a vulture.

A very pretty vulture.

Natsu frowned at what Mard said. What woman did he want? Erza? Or possibly Lucy?

"What are you talking about; it's not like I asked to be here," he grumbled, trying to avoid eye contact with Mard by keeping a steely gaze straight forward.

Mard came to a halt in front of him and gave a creepy yet beautiful smile (why were all the pretty ones evil?). "But…you will do. Since we have the source, all we need are women…and you can make many children for us."

Natsu had hoped he was just hearing things, but he instantly backed away as the realization hit him. "Wha-wait, _what?!_ " he exclaimed in disbelief. "Are you telling me you want me to have sex with a bunch of women to impregnate them so you can have the babies?!"

The beautiful man nodded like this was a totally normal thing to suggest. "Why, yes-—because thanks to you, the source of Etherious has disappeared, and breeding you is the only way to keep it in production," he explained simply.

Natsu felt livid now, and he could practically feel his blood burning—honestly, it burned quite a bit, and he did the first thing that came to his mind—slug Mard unconscious with the big, metal, cuffs on his wrists. He was honestly shocked at himself by the act, but he decided to take his chance and bolt for the nearest doorway.

But he didn't make it far as he was frozen in his tracks—literally. And then he heard the laughter of Mard behind him, followed by a very un-Mard looking shadow looming over him.

"Stupid boy," he laughed. "You still don't even know the full potential of your Etherious. You can never escape like that."

Then everything went black once again as the ice on his legs spread to cover his whole body.

* * *

The only sound he could hear was a high-pitched ringing in his ears, like a bomb had gone off in his eardrums. He thought he had gone blind, too, only to realize there was just what appeared to be a miniature sun floating directly above his head…but then he remembered that light bulbs were also a thing.

When the ringing in his ears finally faded, it was then replaced with an awful pounding sensation, which Natsu recognized as his own heartbeat—probably from sheer terror. There was a rag in his mouth, probably there to muffle him, and an IV stuck into his arm, which was injecting some kind of red liquid into him…which could only mean good things.

He barely noted the dull pain in his abdomen as he tried to focus on the faint murmurs of talking from somewhere in the room. Unable to hear them as he was now, he closed his eyes and felt his blood burn as he willed himself to hear more clearly—a small trick he had picked up through all the bullshit his life seemed to throw at him.

"—not working. We need to inform Mard."

"No, I said I'll get it; get off my case!"

"We can't waste any time. We don't know how long he'll be unconscious, and the second he wakes up, we'll be in danger."

"Urgh…fine, give me ten more minutes."

Natsu heard a door open and close. The voices belonged to what seemed to be a man and a woman, and from what he gathered, he was in a position to wreak havoc. He wondered how, exactly, since all his limbs were strapped down with thick leather to an operating table.

But then his mind started unfogging as he noticed that there were metal buckles on said leather straps and metal tools all around this room. Yes, he could make this work in his favor.

Using whatever remaining strength he could muster, he managed to make the Etherious in his blood call out to the metal in the wrist straps and forced them up as hard as he could, which resulted in the binding tearing from the table, the other half sailing across the room. Now he had to act fast because he knew he didn't have much time, as the person in the room was probably aware that he was awake now.

Natsu spat out the rag in his mouth, pulling the IV out with one arm while flicking his wrist towards the straps on his legs, which made the metal clasp jolt up and the leather tear, just as the wrist straps had. The blond guy (with what looked like…dog ears?) let out a alarmed shout and grabbed for a needle on the table, which was probably to knock him out again.

Adrenaline was pretty much the only thing keeping Natsu going now. He jumped up, his blood burning just under his skin, which meant his eyes were probably glowing as well. Ignoring the pain, he had the metal needle fly from his oppressor's hand and smash onto the ground.

"You—!" was all the poor guy could muster, but Natsu wasn't sticking around to hear his complaints. He all but rammed the door down and took off down the hall. There wasn't much thinking going on in his head right now, and he felt like his body was moving all on its own. He had no clue where the exit was, but he would knock down a wall if he had to.

Finally, he stumbled into a room he recognized—the throne-like room in which Mard had been before. Thankfully, he wasn't here now, leaving a straight-shot to the exit. He wasted no time in dashing down the hall right across from the throne, but he gasped and nearly fell onto his face as one of the walls exploded, a cloud of dust and rubble clouding his view.

The blond-haired dog boy from before was there, looking none too happy about Natsu having given him the slip, and Natsu had vaguely wondered if he would combust as well, like the wall had before him.

"You…you're a slippery one," the blond snarled. He was hunched over, his claws dangling, which made him appear very animalistic in this moment. "If I let you escape, Master Mard will skin my hide…"

Natsu clenched and unclenched his fists in nervousness, wetting his dry mouth with his tongue before speaking because he felt like he was about to suffocate already and didn't need to choke on a dry mouth.

"No one said you were letting me," Natsu said. "I'm just not too keen on staying, and you won't be an issue for me to fight past." He tried to keep his gaze level as he spoke—it was sort of an intimidation tactic predatory animals used to let other animals know they were in charge. Natsu wasn't sure when he picked up the habit, but Zeref had always said his eyes resembled an animal's whenever he was backed into a corner.

The man across from him growled like a dog, the corners of his mouth pulling back to reveal sharp fangs. "You think you're all that and a bag of chips just 'cause you got more Etherious in ya?" he snapped. "Well, I was told to do anything it took to keep you here, and I'm not about to defy orders!"

That was when the unexpected happened—the man whipped out a needle and stabbed himself in the arm with it, letting out a howl of pain. Natsu didn't need a good look at the vial to tell what was in it—the way his blood felt like it was singeing his veins, the feeling of panic rising up into him, which more than likely meant his eyes were glowing their typical bright blue…

This lunatic was injecting himself with more Etherious.

"Wai—hey, stop! Don't you know that crap is highly toxic?!" Natsu cried in alarm, rushing forward to try and stop him, but it was already too late. Natsu didn't need his great hearing to hear the loud _snap!_ as this man's bones broke under his skin and disfigured his body. Fur started growing rapidly, erasing any remaining signs that this person once had human skin. His head no longer holding defining human features—an attractive young boy's face—as it now looked more wolfish.

He looked like a monstrous jackal.

" _ **Natsu Dragneel! This is where you—!**_ " Were-jackal began, but he couldn't get his words out before screams of pain tore out of his beastly jowls as he screamed, " _ **I-IT'S BURNING—I'M BURNING UP—S-SOMEONE, HELP!**_ " as he started clawing at his body desperately, and Natsu could do nothing but stare in complete shock and horror.

The beast's sharp claws easily tore off his own flesh and fur, and blood stained his coat crimson and spilled out over the cobblestone floor. Natsu usually would've stepped back to avoid standing in this huge pool of blood, but he was in too much shock and horror as the horribly disfigured former human slumped to the ground, having gouged himself to death. He had been unable to handle the toxins of the Etherious in such a high dose.

Despite the fact this person had wanted to do assumingly awful things to Natsu and his body, he couldn't help finding himself near tears now, unable to take his eyes off the now-unrecognizable corpse. This had been a human. He could have lived out a happy, full life, if not for Mard corrupting him with his agenda.

This was just how much Etherious destroyed the body. It took away your common sense and made you into a monster.

And like a cold bucket of water being poured over his head, a horrible realization hit Natsu.

 _Am I a monster, too?_


End file.
